Britain's Geology

[chionomaniac]

I went to Warwick last weekend and popped in to the museum there whilst passing. On the wall, there was a great map from the British Geological Survey depicting all the rocks across the UK. I have tracked this down online and found a very detailed and user friendly viewer showing the same.

http://maps.bgs.ac.uk/geologyviewer_google/googleviewer.html

From that I can see that my house is buit on Weald clay mudstone which is completely different to the Seaford chalk formation that I lived on in Brighton.

Fascinating!

[Nick F]

My House is built on Wealden Sandstone and Mudstone - which makes sense, because there are sandstone rock outcrops around Tunbridge Wells, some of which are used for climbing.

[Moomin]

I went to Warwick last weekend and popped in to the museum there whilst passing. On the wall, there was a great map from the British Geological Survey depicting all the rocks across the UK. I have tracked this down online and found a very detailed and user friendly viewer showing the same.

http://maps.bgs.ac.u...ogleviewer.html

From that I can see that my house is buit on Weald clay mudstone which is completely different to the Seaford chalk formation that I lived on in Brighton.

Fascinating!

Well spotted this is a very useful feature. I am employed as a Geologist but use the traditional paper versions of the maps and haven't visited the BGS web site for a while so hadn't found this. The geology of the UK is just like the weather, incredibly variable for such a small island and similarly unpredictable in many respects. Do be aware though that some of the field work and reports that support these maps are very old and in many cases a lot of interpretation has to be made with teh older reports and indeed in the field even today, geoloogy is an imprecise science in some circumstances and some of teh maps are wrong. It all depends on the scale you are looking at, the larger the scale the less detail and as an overall indicator are pretty good, at very small scales the accuracy can be lost unless you happen to be in an area where lots of boreholes have been drilled, there are lots of outcrops of rock or it is a mining district.

It is however great to see people interested, please get in touch if you want any information etc.. I'm always happy to further the cause!

Moomin

[coldfingers]

Thanks very much for that map link, i have always been fascinated by geology, mostly the rocks, not so interested in the area I live as it is a lot of London clay and various other sedimentary areas such as gravels. I have been told that under the Bognor area there are a lot of areas of what they called, 'running sand and gravel'. This means that in many areas, especially close to the sea, a lot of piles have to be sunk before houses and other structures can be built.

Moomin, thankks for the offer of help. Do you know of any good textbooks on geology suitable for a complete beginner like me? I have a copy of the geology of the Isle of Arran in the Firth of Clyde which I found really interesting because of the varied geology of such a small island.

[chionomaniac]

Well spotted this is a very useful feature. I am employed as a Geologist but use the traditional paper versions of the maps and haven't visited the BGS web site for a while so hadn't found this. The geology of the UK is just like the weather, incredibly variable for such a small island and similarly unpredictable in many respects. Do be aware though that some of the field work and reports that support these maps are very old and in many cases a lot of interpretation has to be made with teh older reports and indeed in the field even today, geoloogy is an imprecise science in some circumstances and some of teh maps are wrong. It all depends on the scale you are looking at, the larger the scale the less detail and as an overall indicator are pretty good, at very small scales the accuracy can be lost unless you happen to be in an area where lots of boreholes have been drilled, there are lots of outcrops of rock or it is a mining district.

It is however great to see people interested, please get in touch if you want any information etc.. I'm always happy to further the cause!

Moomin

Thanks moomin.

Generally speaking, I also much prefer a traditional map that one can pore over, but in this case the BSG web site is very well done.

I seem to remember being told that the area that I live in was once formed by an upwelling ripple in the Earths surface and was originally all chalk. Once this eroded it just left the North and South Downs with the clay type in between - rather like taking the top off a hard boiled egg!

c

[Radiating Dendrite]

Thanks very much for that map link, i have always been fascinated by geology, mostly the rocks, not so interested in the area I live as it is a lot of London clay and various other sedimentary areas such as gravels. I have been told that under the Bognor area there are a lot of areas of what they called, 'running sand and gravel'. This means that in many areas, especially close to the sea, a lot of piles have to be sunk before houses and other structures can be built.

Moomin, thankks for the offer of help. Do you know of any good textbooks on geology suitable for a complete beginner like me? I have a copy of the geology of the Isle of Arran in the Firth of Clyde which I found really interesting because of the varied geology of such a small island.

I was lucky enough to be able to do A-Level Geology, it is a fascinating subject. In terms of books, there are many differing textbooks, all depends whether you like the rock side or fossil side.

[Moomin]

Thanks very much for that map link, i have always been fascinated by geology, mostly the rocks, not so interested in the area I live as it is a lot of London clay and various other sedimentary areas such as gravels. I have been told that under the Bognor area there are a lot of areas of what they called, 'running sand and gravel'. This means that in many areas, especially close to the sea, a lot of piles have to be sunk before houses and other structures can be built.

Moomin, thankks for the offer of help. Do you know of any good textbooks on geology suitable for a complete beginner like me? I have a copy of the geology of the Isle of Arran in the Firth of Clyde which I found really interesting because of the varied geology of such a small island.

It really depends upon what you want to know about. I can't really resommend anything as all the text books I've used in the last 10 years have been highly specialized very technical ones which will either put you off or you will struggle to understand without having studied the basic fundamentals.

However, I did do A - Level geology, the text book for that was called Applied Geology, which was brilliant. Unfortunately I can't remember who the publisher was and I did my A-Levels 20 years ago (scary stuff) so it may be out of print by now. I would suggest looking at amazon and seeing what A- Level type text books are on there, alternatively some of the little books the Geological Museum do are quite good, although I can't find a museum shop online. I would recommend visiting the geological museum if you can - its part of the natural history museum). You'll learn quite a bit from that.

Moomin

[Radiating Dendrite]

It really depends upon what you want to know about. I can't really resommend anything as all the text books I've used in the last 10 years have been highly specialized very technical ones which will either put you off or you will struggle to understand without having studied the basic fundamentals.

However, I did do A - Level geology, the text book for that was called Applied Geology, which was brilliant. Unfortunately I can't remember who the publisher was and I did my A-Levels 20 years ago (scary stuff) so it may be out of print by now. I would suggest looking at amazon and seeing what A- Level type text books are on there, alternatively some of the little books the Geological Museum do are quite good, although I can't find a museum shop online. I would recommend visiting the geological museum if you can - its part of the natural history museum). You'll learn quite a bit from that.

Moomin

A fellow geologist

I would like to second the Geology section in the NHM, very good!

[johnholmes]

zoomed in on mine-fascinating=Nottingham Castle Sandstone apparently, part of its character is pebbles.

I'll testify to that, along with builders rubbish I had the bright idea when I moved here 20 years ago of clearing 'some' stones and pebbles out before I redid the back garden. Several months later, having dug down to about 2 feet and about 15 tons of rubble, stones, pebbles etc later with 2 large skips having been filled! The garden is only about 10m by11m.

[coldfingers]

I was lucky enough to be able to do A-Level Geology, it is a fascinating subject. In terms of books, there are many differing textbooks, all depends whether you like the rock side or fossil side.

Actually I am fascinated by both. This area is only good for fossils though.

It really depends upon what you want to know about. I can't really resommend anything as all the text books I've used in the last 10 years have been highly specialized very technical ones which will either put you off or you will struggle to understand without having studied the basic fundamentals.

However, I did do A - Level geology, the text book for that was called Applied Geology, which was brilliant. Unfortunately I can't remember who the publisher was and I did my A-Levels 20 years ago (scary stuff) so it may be out of print by now. I would suggest looking at amazon and seeing what A- Level type text books are on there, alternatively some of the little books the Geological Museum do are quite good, although I can't find a museum shop online. I would recommend visiting the geological museum if you can - its part of the natural history museum). You'll learn quite a bit from that.

Moomin

Many thanks for the answer, I love the geology dept of the Hatural History Museum. Family wonder what i find so fascinating about rocks though, I think I find the metamorphic and igneous most interesting though. The problem with Amazon is that you can seldom search inside the books on offer so unless you know which title you are looking for it isn't a lot of use. Think A level books are a good idea to start though as i went past the GCSE level when home educating my son a few years ago. Probably will head to Brighton for some good second hand bookshops.

[Hodgheg]

I studied geology at college, its quite interesting achually. Theres fault lines all over the uk and earthquakes are more common that most people think. Nice to see some people taking an interest in the subject.

[RedShift]

Well, for years I lived on the Lower Carboniferous Gullane Formation (mostly deltaic sandstone) in Edinburgh.

Now, I live on the somewhat younger (and flatter!) Upper Cretaceous Gault Formation (mostly mudstone) NW of Cambridge.

Thanks very much for that map link, i have always been fascinated by geology, mostly the rocks, not so interested in the area I live as it is a lot of London clay and various other sedimentary areas such as gravels. I have been told that under the Bognor area there are a lot of areas of what they called, 'running sand and gravel'. This means that in many areas, especially close to the sea, a lot of piles have to be sunk before houses and other structures can be built.

Moomin, thankks for the offer of help. Do you know of any good textbooks on geology suitable for a complete beginner like me? I have a copy of the geology of the Isle of Arran in the Firth of Clyde which I found really interesting because of the varied geology of such a small island.

You could do alot worse than 'Teach yourself Geology'.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Teach-Yourself-Geology-David-Rothery/dp/0340958790

Or, if you are very keen, the more expensive but classic

'Holmes' Principles of Physical Geology'

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Principles-Physical-Geology-Arthur-Holmes/dp/041240320X

Mostly written by many current and recently retired teaching staff at Edinburgh University.

[SNOW_JOKE]

I've done a bit of self-studying on the North Derbyshire Fault Lines. What interests me the most is the building of foundation on areas of Fault Line that are shown to be prone to activity, but are overdue seismic events for some time. Such examples is the Fault running parallel alongside the Cheshire Line which Branches off into the Goyt Valley and out along towards Marple.

Built along this are 3 reservoirs, the Torrs bridges and many Pre-Victorian Factories that still have the Chimneys. Wihtout wanting to cause too much alarm, the New Mills Line is Evidentially a Strike-Slip Fault as observers can see in the valley level with one side of the Fault showing a cliff face running parallel to smooth-sides of the banks on the other end. Should this Fault rupture again the possibility is there for a Mag 6+ quake to pulsate across the Peak District, somewhat larger than the 2008 Earthquake experienced in Lincolnshire.

Obviously the Manchester Fault which is connected to the Cheshire is still active to this day, having recently experienced swarms some 4 years ago and settling back down to a period of inactivity again. The Cheshire Fault counteracted the residual pressure by exhibiting some 2 Mag 3+ quakes in central Stoke-on-Trent. I would mainly expect to see Post-Glacial rebound Quakes to be occuring for the foreseeable future as a result of released stresses in the North, but as I'm not a Seismologist I cant say for certain which area's I'd likely to see the next Earthquake Swarms occuring.